Blue and Gold

KJ Parker

Completed 1/16/2017, reviewed 1/16/2017

3 stars

Blue and Gold has the most unreliable narrator I’ve ever read.  And the narrator tells you on the second page that he lies.  How much does he lie?  A lot.  So much so that it’s hard to tell when he’s telling the truth, if at all.  It makes for an interesting and entertaining read.  But in the end, you wonder if the point of the whole novella is that it’s a shaggy dog story.  Well, the last sentence isn’t a pun, but it is the punchline. 

As I mentioned, this is a novella.  It’s only about a hundred pages.  I was surprised at how much character development there was, particularly of the main character, just by being the first person unreliable narrator, even though sometimes, he spoke of himself in third person too.  You don’t get any descriptions of the characters, just their general dispositions from the dialogue.  And the dialogue and narration is pretty good.

The premise of the book is that Saloninus is an alchemist, and possibly the best alchemist ever.  He’s been commissioned by his friend the prince to create an elixir of eternal youth and to turn base metals into gold.  In the process, he accidently kills his wife and goes on the run.  Allegedly.  As the book progresses, the lies change a bit and you don’t know when you’re getting the truth.  And Saloninus jumps between the past and present quite a bit, which keeps the keeps the reader off balance as well.

For a hundred pages, the effect works well.  If this were a full length novel, I think it would have been too much.  There’s a sequel which I have from the library which I think I’ll read after a respite with another book first. 

While not a brilliant book, the effect of the unreliable narrator was fun.  I recommend this for a fun read, keeping in mind that the whole thing is basically a gag.  I give the book three out of five stars.  Just remember to keep in mind what has blue got to do with gold….